Murmansk: the Arctic gateway on the Barents Sea

The world's largest city above the Arctic Circle, Murmansk remains an ice-free port year-round thanks to the Gulf Stream.

The center, gateway to the Arctic on the Barents Sea, is comfortably explored on foot despite the biting cold.

The Alyosha, a statue of a Soviet soldier thirty-five meters tall, commemorates the citys defense during World War II and dominates the entire skyline.

Minutes away, the nuclear icebreaker Lenin, now a floating museum, remains the first nuclear-powered surface vessel ever built in the world.

Heading along the harbor one observes the activities of the Arctic fishing fleet, the historical economic foundation of the city.

In winter nights, the northern lights remain visible with good frequency above Murmansk thanks to its position well beyond the Arctic Circle.

Murmansk, with over two hundred seventy thousand inhabitants, remains the world's most populous city situated above the Arctic Circle, a distinction made possible by its ice-free port thanks to the Gulf Stream warming its waters year-round.

The Lenin icebreaker, launched in 1957, was the first surface ship with nuclear propulsion in history, paving the way for the development of Russia's successive fleet of Arctic icebreakers still in service today.